Interpretive Summary: Across the livestock sector there are concerns that the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity will impose new costs for exchanging livestock genetic resources and interfere with commonly used private treaty contracts. In developing Nagoya Protocol no evaluation was performed on how changes in genetic composition of an imported population over time impacts ABS formulation. This study addresses this question using samples from the original Meishan pig imported to the US from China (in 1989) and compares them to the current US Meishan population using molecular markers and evaluating the level of genetic drift that has occurred. Large and substantial changes in allelic frequencies were found due to genetic drift in the relatively short period of time since the breed was imported. These results support the current livestock industry approach of using private treaty contracts as a means of exchanging genetic resources and that a mechanism separate from the Nagoya Protocol be developed for the livestock sector.

Technical Abstract:
The Convention on Biological Diversity developed the Nagoya Protocol (NP) on access and benefit sharing (ABS) for international exchange of genetic resources. Concerns are NP will impose new costs for exchanging livestock genetic resources and interfere with commonly used private treaty contracts. No evaluation of genetic change within imported populations and the impact on ABS formulation has been performed. Genetic drift (GD) was evaluated on imported Meishan pigs; with samples from: China (M-China, 22 hd; original imports) and US (M-US, 42 hd). The M-US was subdivided into two herds; M-MARC (18 hd) and M-ISU (24 hd). TempoFs analysis showed a mean shift in allele frequency of 0.11(se = 0.019) due to GD for M-US vs M-China. The M-MARC and M-ISU mean (s.e.) allele frequency shifts due to GD were 0.169 (0.034) and 0.214 (0.036), respectively. Principal coordinate analysis confirmed separation of M-US from M-China. Results showed among M-US substantial changes in allele frequency due to GD in a short time frame. Due to industry norms and genetic changes within imported populations, we suggest continued use of private contracts to facilitate exchange under any ABS regime.